Video game producer Blizzard is facing a boycott after removing a Hearthstone player from its Grandmasters tournament who called for the “liberation” of Hong Kong in a post-game stream and zeroing out his prize money.
Citing a competition rule that forbids players from doing anything to bring them into “public disrepute,” “offend[ing] a portion or group of the public,” or “otherwise damag[ing] Blizzard’s image,” the game company banned Chung “Blitzchung” Ng Wai from playing Hearthstone for a full year and zeroed out some $10,000 in prize money.
Hong Kong native Chung wore the official protester uniform of goggles and gas mask to his post-game interview after the third day of the Grandmasters tournament in Taiwan over the weekend. He proudly shouted “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our age!” as the terrified tournament hosts literally hid behind their monitors – all for naught, since Blizzard fired them anyway.
“While we stand by one’s right to express individual thoughts and opinions, players and other participants that elect to participate in our esports competitions must abide by the official competition rules,” one of US biggest gaming companies said in a statement on Tuesday.
“We will, as always, resolutely safeguard the country’s dignity,” the official Hearthstone account on Chinese microblogging site Weibo posted.
Social media swelled with support for Chung and anger against Blizzard, which is 5 percent owned by Chinese software company Tencent. Twitter users shamed the company for imposing censorship on behalf of the Chinese government “because to them money matters more than freedom.”
The most recent episode of South Park which highlighted Chinas mass censorship, has just been censored in China, thereby proving its point.
Google and Blizzard have also implemented censorship so they can keep operating in China because to them money matters more than freedom.
super messed up how blizzard makes games about heros overthrowing corrupt governments and in the real world is overthrowing heros in favor of corrupt governments
Others chalked up the controversy to the predictability of the outrage machine. “Blizzard gonna have to announce two gay characters to deal with this disaster,” one user snarked.
Blizzard gonna have to announce two gay characters to deal with this disaster
Hong Kong has been gripped with protests since March when residents discontent with a planned extradition law went out in the streets. The government has dropped the legislation since then, but the demonstrations continue with protesters vandalizing shops, disrupting the work of public transport and clashing with police and their opponents and regular citizens on weekly basis. Usually described as ‘pro-democracy’ in Western media, they enjoy support of politicians in US and Europe, while refusing to negotiate their demands with the government.
